


The Princess and The Commoner

by WoodsBeyondSGE



Category: The School for Good and Evil - Soman Chainani
Genre: F/M, Hophie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:47:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25135639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WoodsBeyondSGE/pseuds/WoodsBeyondSGE
Summary: Princess Sophie has been kept within the palace walls for sixteen years, and she’s had enough. After months of planning she is finally ready to escape and explore the village she has only seen in paintings.Hophie AU
Relationships: Hort/Sophie (The School for Good and Evil)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	The Princess and The Commoner

Dear Diary,

I finally did it. After months of careful planning I finally escaped. I’ve been get in captivity for sixteen years and finally I have managed to escape. This princess finally got to see the world that surrounds the palace. You would have thought it impossible for a princess to leave unnoticed but it proved to be easier than expected. No one except those within the palace are aware of what I, Sophie Princess of Gavaldon, look like. So as I escaped into the village, dressed in my maids uniform, I went unnoticed by the village residents. My escape plan was thought out my myself and my very loyal maid, Agatha. 

‘Sophie this is too dangerous!’ Agatha had voiced her concerns the first time I had voiced my hopes of seeing the outside world. 

‘Aggie I’ve lived my whole life stuck behind the palace walls, I need to escape. Even just for a day.’ So out of love and loyalty to me Agatha helped me plan my escape. 

Early on the morning of one of my fathers weekly meetings I would go to the servants quarters via the secret passage way I discovered many years age. With the help of Agatha I would dress as a maid, my face hidden under a large floppy hat Agatha had borrowed from one of the older maids and escape into the village.

The plan seemed to easy, and I couldn’t help by fear it would go terrible wrong, but as you may have guessed it went exactly as planned, and I write this hours later, lay on my bed after the most wonderful day of my life. 

-

The village was almost completely deserted apart from a few shop owners who were preparing for opening. The palace gallery was filled with painting of the village, all of which were created by the royal painter August Sader, but the painting did not do this village justice. It was much larger that I had expected, filled with beautiful brick houses, churches, pubs and schools. Agatha had grown up in this village and had written me a list of places to visit, including directions on how to get to these places. My loyal maid spend time making these for me, I almost feel sorry that I didn’t get the opportunity to use it. Almost! 

I spend ten minutes wondering around the village market, watching as villagers prepared for opening, and as I reached the end of the market the most wonderful thing happened. I was far to busy watching the villagers go bout their work that I paid little attention to where I was going, I failed to noticed the big fluffy dog run in front of me and the next moment I found myself laying face first in the ground. Of course that wasn’t what made this moment so wonderful but rather what happened after. 

‘Frog!’ I hear a voice shout from above me, I pushed myself over to that instead of my face being to the ground I was staring at the sky and in my direct vision was a boy. He had yet black hair which feel across his deep brown eyes, the boy wasn’t exactly Prince Charming, but I couldn’t help blush as our eyes meet. 

‘Are you okay?’ He asked, extending a hand and helping me to my feet ‘I’m sorry my dog knocked you over’ 

‘I’m fine,’ I said as I brushed the dirt from my dress which had been torn when I feel. I’ll need to buy Agatha a new one. 

‘Your bleeding’ the boy observed and placed his hand on the top of my forehead exactly where my hairline lies, I flinch back in surprise and in pain. ‘I’m sorry’ 

‘There’s not reason to apologise, I should have been watching where I was going’ I told him, ‘Is your dog okay?’ 

‘He’ll be fine, he had a habit of running of and tripping people up. It’s you I’m worried about, your bleeding pretty bad. Come with me to the Village Inn and I can find you some help. Frog and I are already going there’ 

I agreed to go with the boy and together with his dog we walked down a small allyway before stopping in front of a small brick building. The boy opened the door and gestured for me to enter. The room we entered was alive with noise, quiet the contrary to the quiet outdoors. The room was lined with wooden tables which were all filled up by villagers, who were eating and laughing together. At the very back of the room there was a wooden bar with a cheery dark skinned women smiling and laughing with her customers. 

‘You’re late!’ The women said as the boy approached the bar, ‘you know the morning rush is always the worst on Monday’ 

‘Sorry Marian, Frog decided to trip up another villager’ The boy gestured to me and I give Marian a small smile ‘I think she might be really hurt, her head is bleeding’ 

‘Oh dear, that does look like a nasty cut. Take her to the back room and I’ll be with yous as soon as I can, I’ll need to get you a new dress as well’ The boy escorted me into a small room behind the bar and sat me down on a small wooden rocking chair, his dog followed behind us and lay down at my feet. 

‘So your lovely dogs name is Frog, interesting choice’ I noted laughing slightly at the dogs name ‘and what would your name be?’ 

‘It’s Hort’ the boy replied. Hort! Not exactly a pretty name, in fact I have never heard of such a strange name. Before I was able to reply the door of the room swung open and Marian walks in, Hort hurry’s over to help her with the items she is carrying. In one hand she holds a plain brown dress, in the over a bucket of water as well as a sponge and bandages. Hort takes the bucket of her and places it on the floor in front of me. 

‘Lets deal with that injury of yours first’ Marian said as she say down on a wooden stool beside me. As she washed and bandages my head, I watched the boy who was sat on the floor playing with his dog. In my sixteen years of live I have had very few chances to meet boys my own age. When I turned fifteen my father organised a ‘date’ with a prince he hoped I would one day marry. Tedros of Camelot. Prince Tedros was the very face of beauty, but he spend the whole day talking about himself and his kingdom, and simply bored me to death. Since then father had tried to set me up with a few more princes, but all were just as boring as the first. The boy who helped me today was so much different from those princes. He was a villager, a commoner, his hair was dark and unkept, his skin sweaty and he had splotches of dirt on his face, he wore breeches and a plain white shirt and overall his appearance was not impressive but somehow I felt drown to this boy. Something about him interested me, I couldn’t explain why but I felt something special about him. 

‘Lucky for you darling it’s not a deep cut, it should be healed within a few days’ Marian told me once she had secured the bandage around my head, taking my thoughts away from Hort. ‘We’ll leave you to get dressed. 

Once I was changed out of my torn dress and into the simple brown one Marian had given me - which somehow fitted perfectly - I left the small room and re entered the main bar area. 

‘Thank you helping me and lending me the dress’ I said to Marian, who was behind the bar once more, this time with Hort by her side 

‘Don’t worry about it darling, and you can keep the dress, it’s fits you perfectly. I haven’t seen you here before’

‘I’m not from here, I’m visiting for the day’ I told her, not entirely a lie, ‘I like it here, I might visit more often’

‘Well if you come again be sure to drop in here’ Hort told me, I smiled at his comment. ‘I never asked for your name’ 

‘Agatha!’ I panicked when he asked me this question, I never expected to talk to anyone during my day away from the palace, I felt bad for using Agatha’s name but if I told him my name of Sophie he might have made a connection between me and the princess. 

‘So what brings you to our village?’ Hort asked me,

‘No talking during you shift boy!’ Marian playfully hit Hort over the head, ‘Agatha why don’t you wait in the back room until Hort has finished his shift. I’m sure Frog would love some company’ 

‘You seem really busy, I could help is you wanted’ I had never in my life worked, and I certainly had no idea how to serve in a bar, but part of me wanted to spend my day with Hort, I only had until midday before I needed to be back at the palace for lunch with my father and I wanted to spend every minute with the boy who made my heart skip a beat. 

‘Have you ever worked in a bar before?’ Marian asked me, giving me a curious look ‘by the smoothness of your skin I’d say you’ve never worked a day in your life’ 

‘Father never wanted me to work, but I’m a fast learning, how hard can I really be?’ 

It turned out to be a lot harder than I had expected. For the next three hours I rushed from table to table, handing out foot and drink and taking away any dirty plates and mugs. The villagers shouted their requests to me and I had to try and remember each on and tell Marian so she could prepare the food and drink. 

Unfortunately I was unable to spend much time was Hort, who just as busy preparing drinks for the customers at the bar. But whenever I could I slipped glances, watching as he poured drink after drink for the villagers. I’ve spend my whole life dreaming of Prince Charming, but maybe I wasn’t destined to love a Prince, maybe I was destined for someone different, someone more ‘normal’.

The morning rush slowly came to an end and as the finally costumer left, Marian declared our shift over and Hort gladly lead me into the back room, where we could be alone. 

‘So you never answered my question, what brings you to the village?’ 

‘I’ve never left my home before, for sixteen years I’ve been stuck in the same place, going about the same routine every day. I guess I just wanted to escape that life for a while’ I explained, it wasn’t a lie I told him, I just left out the fact my home was a palace. 

For the next hour the two of us sit on the floor of the room, Frog layed on the floor in front of us and talked. I told Hort about my ‘family’, leaving out the royalty part. I told him my mother died when I was ten years old, and my father was planing on re marrying but I didn’t want to him to do so. I told him all about my closest friend, calling her Callis since I already took her real name. In return Hort told me about his own family. 

‘My mother left just after I was born, I guess she didn’t want me. My father raised me on his own. We’ve lived in this village my whole life and eventually Marian took a shine to me, she would look after me whenever my father was out working and when I was old enough she gave me a job working here’ Hort told me, I watched him intently, intrigued to find out about his life. ‘My dad bought me Frog for my tenth birthday, he felt bad that I didn’t have many friends and thought a dog would make me happy’ 

‘I’ve been dying to ask all day, why did you name him Frog?’ 

‘As a child I had this favourite pair of pjs, I would wear them almost everyday, they had Frog faces all over them, but one day they went missing. I swear I cried for a week, so when I got the dog I decided to name him Frog’ I couldn’t help by laugh at his story, and to my surprise he laughed with me, 

I wanted to stay talking with him for the rest of the day, for the rest of my life but I had lunch plans with father and if I were not miss it a search party would immediately be released into the village to find me, I would be in massive trouble for escaping the village and never be allowed alone time again. As we laughed I heard the village church bell ring, allowing villagers to know it was midday, 

‘I need to go’ I said quickly, realising I only had ten minutes before I needed to be back at the palace. 

‘Already? but it’s only midday’ Hort had said, as I hurriedly got to my feet, startling Frog in the process. ‘You can’t leave’ 

‘I have to, im sorry but if I don’t get home now my father will know I left, he can’t find out I left or I’ll be in big trouble’ 

‘Promise you’ll come back?’ Hort asked taking hold of my hand, I look into his brown eyes and my heart skips a beat, 

‘I promise’ I leant in and placed a kiss on his cheek before letting go of his hand and fleeing back to the castle. 

When I returned to the castle Agatha helped me change back into my pink gown and escorted me to the palace dinning hall, where my father waited for my with his fiancé and her two children. He looked concerned when he noticed my injured head, I panicked and told him I fell in the gardens, somehow he believed it. 

I told Agatha all about my day once lunch for over. I chose to leave out the kiss, it was special moment to kept only between me and Hort. I never planned on escaping to the village more than once, but now all I can think about is the next time I can escape and see Hort again. 

If anyone was to find this diary, I would be in more trouble that I can handle. So I’ll need to find a special place to hid it until the next time I have a story to tell.


End file.
